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Bush and the Art of Writing

1:09 PM, Jul 8, 2008 • By WILLIAM KRISTOL
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I hadn't been aware, until Andrew Sullivan's post today, that on July 4 at Monticello President Bush had quoted the June 24, 1826 Jefferson letter I'd written about four days before in the New York Times.

Andrew also points out that Bush omits a clause from his quotation of Jefferson:

Bush:

"In one of the final letters of his life, he wrote, 'May it be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.'"

Jefferson:

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains UNDER WHICH MONKISH IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION HAD PERSUADED THEM TO BIND THEMSELVES, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

So it turns out Bush is a careful reader, and a prudent speaker!

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